Saturday, January 23, 2016

Sarah Palin Sounds Like Bernie Sanders. And Vice Versa.

So Sarah Barracuda came out and endorsed Donald Trump. I heard about it on Twitter where everyone on the right was yelling about betrayal and snarking that her endorsement speech was rambling and incoherent. I then listened to a pair of podcasts with the same perspective where they played parts of her speech and I heard it for the first time.

I have no idea what everyone's on about. I know I'm now supposed to hate Sarah Palin from both the left and the right and I'm obligated to sneer at her alleged stupidity, but I just don't see it.

Her speech was indeed rambling and poorly constructed, but all of her speeches have been like that, unless carefully written by someone else. It's who she is. So what? Some of the smartest people I've known aren't able to string three sentences together without mangling grammar and structure.

What was more interesting than her speaking style was the underlying theme of her speech. Removing what little policy talk there was, it was indistinguishable from a Bernie Sanders or a Ted Cruz speech.

Sarah spoke passionately about a political structure that has lost touch with the people. She talked of an establishment that cares only for the lobbyists and big donors and never carries through on their promises to the voters. (How long have we been promised control of our southern border? 20 years now?) It's an elite that has failed to hide its scorn for the average American. How is that different from Sanders or Cruz?

I'm no Trumpkin, but I can't see why I should hate on Sarah Palin over this.

Jon Stewart, the King of Ignorant, Dimwitted Sneering, telling me why I should hate Sarah Palin.